Friday, March 4, 2016

Curse of Strahd - Session 1

The Party
Victor Luna (CG human blood hunter) - Victor is a man haunted by his past. His family was slaughtered by a monster. This drove him to join up with a group of blood hunters, that trained him to fight the beasts of the night. A former woodcutter, he has enlisted the aid of a druid acquaintance, Adrick for a few hunts.

Adrick Balgart (CN human druid) - Adrick sees himself as a servant of nature. His master is neither, benevolent nor malicious. It simply is. He joined Victor in his crusade against the unnatural not long after the hunter finished his training. When asked why he adventures, he has been known to respond, "Like the seasons change, we must change as well, be it the mountains or swamp, we go where the wind blows."

Simon Barhorn (CN half-elf bard) - Simon has always gone through life using his words and wit. He's a classically trained bard, but he also makes his living as a confidence man. He met Adrick and Victor during a pub fight and the trio have adventured together since.

Session 1 (Contains spoilers)

The session started with the party camping in a forest after investigation reports of a bridge hag (which had turned out to be a hoax perpetuated by a teenage sorcerer and his friends). The awoke in a strange forest, surrounded by mists. They followed the only road into an unknown village. All of the houses and buildings were shut up and the only people they encountered were two children, Rose and Thorn. The children asked the party to go to their house to kill the "monsters in the basement." Adrick and Simon were hesitant, but Victor insisted they help the children. To encourage his more worldly friend, Victor mentioned, "Monster hunting is a lucrative business." The strange mists began to close in on the party and they moved to the house. They left the children in their wagon, just outside the entrance. The partu investigated the first two floors and found the home deserted. They also noticed that they artwork and engravings on the walls often had sinister elements hidden. Victor began to supsect the family were actually werewolf hunters, until the false occult tomes and letter from Strahd was discovered. They entered the third floor and fought the animated armor, nursemaid spectre, and animated broom.

I like Rosavalda and Throboldt, but I wonder they made them look like little drow of vampires.

When Victor uses the blood hunters flaming weapon ability he uses they vow, "By the cleansing light of Selune."

Simon really liked the top hat found in the first floor cloak room (and decided to keep it).

I decided to play music from the Midnight Syndicate Halloween Collection I had. Some of the time was perfect. As the party opened the door to the nursery and the spectre attacked them, the track "Haunted Nursery" started playing.

I didn't have the animated broom stats, so I modified the stats for an animated sword. I crit on it's first swing and ko'd Victor.

The gents really liked the haunted house aspects of Death House and are really excited to continue the adventure.